Open XSplit Gamecaster then open your game and wait for XSplit Gamecaster to initialize. Once it is done, you should see a notification that it is ready to stream and record:

Press [Ctrl]+[Tab] to open the XSplit Gamecaster Overlay:

Streaming/Recording Buttons

Press [Stream] to start live streaming or [Record] to start recording:

Microphone/System Sound Control

Pressing the microphone or system sound button will enable or disable the microphone or system sound.

If you have not selected a microphone device in the Settings Tab, the microphone will always remain muted (see Microphone Settings for instructions on how to select a microphone).

To adjust the volume level of either the microphone or the system sound, hover over either icon while holding down the shift key. Then click on the audio bar and move the mouse up or down until you find your desired volume level. Click on the mouse button one more time to finalize setting your volume:

Webcam Controls

To enable webcam controls, you must first select a camera/webcam in the Settings Tab (see Camera Settings for instructions on how to select a webcam).

Once you have selected a webcam, you can activate it by clicking on the Show Web Camera icon in the XSplit Gamecaster overlay:

You can then drag and resize your webcam within the gameplay window as you see fit:

When your mouse cursor is over your webcam, you will see another toolbar appear. Here, you’ll see options to change its visibility, adjust its chroma key settings, and apply aspect ratio restrictions:

1. Visibility

To make your webcam video visible to both you and your viewers in your stream or recording, check the box called “In Stream/Recording.” And, to make your webcam video visible from within your game, even when the XSplit Gamecaster overlay is not open, check “In Game HUD”:

2. Chroma Key

Chroma keying is a technique commonly used in video production that involves compositing two images or video streams together based on color hues. In other words, it is used to place an object in the foreground into a new background. Here is an example:

You can activate and adjust the chroma key by choosing “Chroma Key.” Once chroma key is enabled, you can select what Key color you want to use and adjust the chroma key threshold to your desired level:

3. Crop

In Crop, if you check “Keep aspect ratio,” your image will be resized equally in terms of its height and width. If you uncheck it, you can stretch your image either vertically or horizontally without having to keep its height and width balanced:

Twitch Controls

If you’ve signed in to your Twitch.tv account, you’ll see a Twitch icon in the overlay. When you hover over this icon, you will see three buttons:

1. Edit Twitch Broadcast Title and Game Name

Pressing this button allows you to do exactly as the heading says – it lets you edit your Twitch broadcast’s title and the name of your game:

2. Show Twitch Chat Panel

This opens XSplit Gamecaster’s integrated chat system. Here, you can participate in your channel’s chat. You can also use text commands to moderate your channel:

2.1 Visibility

To make your Twitch Chat window visible to both you and your viewers in your stream or recording, check the box called “In Stream/Recording.” And, to make your Twitch Chat window visible from within your game, even when the XSplit Gamecaster overlay is not open, check “In Game HUD”:

2.2 Style

Here you can choose the text color for your viewers, your messages, and you can also use the opacity option to create a background for your chat to make it easier to read:

2.3 Text Size

Allows you to change your text size to small, medium, or large:

2.4 Show or Hide Twitch Viewers List

Lets you display or hide the list of your Twitch Viewers:

3. Show Twitch Followers and Subscribers Panel

This is where you can change the settings for your Twitch Follower and Subscriber notifications.

3.1 Visibility

To make your Twitch Follower/Subscriber notification visible to both you and your viewers in your stream or recording., check the box called “In Stream/Recording.” And, to make your Twitch Follower/Subscriber notification visible from within your game, even when the XSplit Gamecaster overlay is not open, check “In Game HUD”:

3.2 Style

Set your Twitch Notification’s layout and theme by selecting from the options available, and configure the level of opacity by moving the slider until it reaches your desired level:

3.3 Sound

Click on the Bell button to enable sounds for your Twitch Notification alerts then click on “Browse audio file…” to select a custom sound for your alerts:

3.4 Edit Welcome Message

Click on the Pencil button (on the top right corner, beside the X button) to edit your welcome message for your Twitch Followers:

Share Button

If you authorize your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts (see Social Network Services for instructions on how to authorize your social network accounts), you can quickly share your stream URL and status update within the overlay.

Once your stream is live, open the overlay and click on the Share button:

And choose which Social Networks you want to use then click Share:

In-Game Image Overlay

You can add custom graphics to your stream or recording using the in-game image overlay. To activate in-game graphics, open the overlay and click on the Image button:

Then click on the Replace Image Overlay button:

And browse for your desired image:

1. Visibility

To make your image overlay visible to both you and your viewers in your stream or recording., check the box called “In Stream/Recording.” And, to make your webcam video visible from within your game, even when the XSplit Gamecaster overlay is not open, check “In Game HUD”:

2. Opacity

You can configure your image’s level of opacity by moving the slider until it reaches your desired level:

3. Layout

In Layout, if you check “Keep aspect ratio,” your image will be resized equally in terms of its height and width. If you uncheck it, you can stretch your image either vertically or horizontally without having to keep its height and width balanced:

Annotations

This feature of XSplit Gamecaster allows you to draw directly onto your game play. You can activate annotation mode by clicking on the pencil button in the overlay: